New Zealand faced England once again in Thursday morning's T20 World Cup semi-final, and the contest looked poised for another climactic conclusion.
The Black Caps, hunting their maiden T20 World Cup title, were set a target of 167 for victory at Abu Dhabi's Zayed Cricket Stadium, and the odds were undeniably in England's favour when Neesham walked out to the middle in the 16th over of the run chase with his team requiring 59 runs from 25 balls with five wickets in hand.
Neesham, who considered quitting the game in 2017, crunched his second delivery over the mid-wicket boundary for a six. Two balls later, he pumped a full delivery from veteran seamer Chris Jordan past long-on for another boundary.
Jordan next attempted a slower ball, which was also smacked over the rope. England captain Eoin Morgan turned to the spin of Adil Rashid, but Neesham cracked the leggie's second delivery over mid-wicket for a third maximum.
Neesham was dismissed soon after, returning to the sheds for 27 off 11 balls. That brief cameo not only shifted the momentum firmly back in New Zealand's favour, but left the England bowlers panic-stricken heading into the penultimate over.
Black Caps opener Daryl Mitchell struck three boundaries off the 19th over, a powerful flick through square leg securing the win.
But as the euphoric New Zealand dugout celebrated the triumph, Neesham remained seated with arms crossed. In his eyes, the redemption story was not yet complete.
A photo of Neesham remaining expressionless while the rest of his camp celebrated wildly quickly went viral across social media, attracting plenty of attention.
The all-rounder tweeted out the photo a couple of hours later and wrote: "Job finished? I don't think so."
The 2019 World Cup heartache remains, but Neesham and his teammates are one step closer to obtaining a crumb of vindication.
New Zealand are never considered favourites leading into ICC tournaments – yet for the third time in six years, the Kiwis have progressed to a World Cup final.
"I knew it was going to be a great game of cricket and that proved to be the case," New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said after the win.
"It ebbed and flowed, as they often do when we go against each other, but I'm really chuffed with the heart shown through the performance.
"I suppose we were (struggling) a little bit but T20 cricket is a game of small margins and we've seen that through the whole tournament."
New Zealand will face either Pakistan or Australia in the T20 World Cup Final, which is scheduled to get underway at 3am on Monday morning.
